Chrysler ends ENVI, redeploys engineers

Chrysler has shut down its standalone ENVI electric vehicle program and its personnel have been assigned to other vehicle development programs as Chrysler and Fiat merge their hybrid and electric vehicle programs.

Lou Rhodes, who was in charge of ENVI, continues to oversee electrical vehicle development for both companies. A two-mode hybrid versions of the Ram pickup is still on tap for next year. Plug-in hybrids of the Ram and a minivan are due in 2011 as part of a 200-vehicle fleet developed with a $70-million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Chrysler will not have a hybrid passenger car like the Toyota Prius or Ford Fusion until 2015.

At the moment, it looks like the first all-electric vehicle from the Fiat-Chrysler effort will probably be a Fiat Doblo commercial van.

Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne says Chrysler’s electric vehicle strategy is still under review but he expects electric vehicles to account for one to two percent of sales by 2014.